In the Data
by Anhai
Summary: The Technobots in 50 sentences.


I really need to stop doing these sentence-things, but they're _so addicting_. Borrowing the theme set Epsilon from 1sentence. Hope you enjoy.

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**#0****1: Motion**

Lightspeed was built for speed, but nothing had ever placed in him the need to _move_ like being surrounded by his teammates' constant push and pull.

**#02: Cool**

It wasn't uncommon to hear Afterburner raging at Nosecone from halfway across the base, furious in the face of his brother's unwavering calm.

**#03: Young**

"It won't hurt, you glitch," Scattershot said roughly, holding his cringing teammate to the berth, but then he looked up at First Aid, wary and hard except…something uncertain flickered there, too– _it won't, right_?

**#04: Last**

"I pity," Jazz said humorlessly, watching the Technobots from across the common room, "the 'Con who has to face down whichever one of them survives."

**#05: Wrong**

They and Computron had trusted Dirk, but they wouldn't make a mistake like that again.

**#06: Gentle**

"C'mon," Scattershot grunted when Strafe just _couldn't walk anymore_, "get up; I'll carry you."

**#07: One**

It seemed like they had been created to exist apart and so Scattershot and Afterburner stuck together simply to be contrary.

**#08: Thousand**

They found Lightspeed on his back beneath the sky with the reflections of the stars in his optics.

**#09: King**

Scattershot moved like the commander he was, and sometimes not even Afterburner could resist straightening up just a little bit when he walked by.

**#10: Learn**

It didn't take long to realize his drill had purposes other than mining, though cleaning the shreds of armor and energon from it was occasionally irritating.

**#11: Blur**

Nosecone's optics barely had time to brighten in surprise before he became intimately acquainted with the wall, Strafe cackling as he barreled passed.

**#12: Wait**

For once, it was Scattershot's hand on Nosecone's arm, shouting for the driller to hold his position, and that was when Strafe knew things had really gone bad.

**#13: Change**

"We are they way we are for a reason," was Lightspeed's hypothesis, but Scattershot thought Afterburner just liked being a pain in his aft.

**#14: Command**

Nosecone had been created first and Scattershot last, but there had never been any doubt as to who would lead.

**#15: Hold**

Nosecone would never say anything - not to comfort nor to scorn - when Afterburner came to him simply wanting to know his brother was _alive_.

**#16: Need**

They were never fully comfortable with the idea of being so dependent on one another, but the thought of losing it was worse.

**#17: Vision**

"I think one day you're gonna get yourself reformatted and fly away," Scattershot said without looking at Lightspeed, keeping his face turned toward the sky, "and you ain't ever gonna look back."

**#18: Attention**

Lightspeed clicked his heels together and brought his hand up in a sharp salute, holding in the smile when Scattershot scowled at him.

**#19: Soul**

They didn't bring up the fact that they had never been to visit Vector Sigma – not even to each other.

**#20: Picture**

Much to Strafe's annoyance, Afterburner was especially hard to snap a picture of and had a tendency of destroying the ones in which he _did_ appear.

**#21: Fool**

Afterburner screamed at him for over an hour and, if Nosecone hadn't known he deserved it, he would have tuned him out long ago.

**#22: Mad**

Lightspeed's voice went low and dark and easy, and he smiled, thumb rubbing gently along Cliffjumper's jaw.

**#23: Child**

They didn't need it or _want_ it at all, but sometimes Sludge would get it in his head that he had to rock them to sleep anyway.

**#24: Now**

Scattershot spluttered and viciously scraped at the paint covering his face while Strafe giggled maniacally - "I didn't mean now!"

**#25: Shadow**

Lightspeed tucked himself into the darkest corner he could find while Scattershot left him to try to explain to Rodimus how everything had gone so wrong.

**#26: Goodbye**

When Strafe tried to say goodbye, Afterburner punched him.

**#27: Hide**

"You're a giant white alien aircraft with orange guns; _I know it's you_."

**#28: Fortune**

Sometimes Scattershot thought he was the luckiest mech in the universe and then Afterburner would come along.

**#29: Safe**

Strafe never felt truly safe until Computron rose up and pressed him down into the quiet not-dormant state, until he could feel each of his brothers through touch and mind and spirit.

**#30: Ghost**

Lightspeed always had the phantom tracks of old data whispering in the back of his processor, stains of his function that would never go away.

**#31: Book**

Eventually, Scattershot pinned Nosecone to the chair and plucked the little book from his hands: "how do you even _read_ this?"

**#32: Eye**

They watched in quiet awe from the center of the storm, as everything around them seemed to tear itself apart.

**#33: Never**

Sometimes Strafe would crawl into the berth with one of them, tense and shaking and muttering about the things he _knew_ were hiding in the dark, and at those times not even Scattershot would turn him away.

**#34: Sing**

While under threat of imminent death, they found out that none of them could carry a tune to save their lives – fortunately, it was about that time Nosecone decided to remember he was carrying explosives.

**#35: Sudden**

One moment Scattershot was happily going on with his life, and the next there was Strafe.

**#36: Stop**

Scattershot paused and leaned back to peer into the room where his teammates seemed to be playing some twisted, deformed game of _Red Light, Green Light_ – "Afterburner, get your fist out of Strafe's mouth. _Now_."

**#37: Time**

Time was a suspicious thing, speeding up and slowing down at random all of the time, which was always Nosecone's completely solemn excuse whenever he arrived late to a meeting.

**#38: Wash**

Two seconds later, Scattershot lifted one foot and shoved Afterburner off the rock and into the river.

**#39: Torn**

Scattershot pressed a hand to what remained of his shoulder, kicking at Hun-Grr's unconcious body, "did ya know it was possible to get used to being eaten alive?"

**#40: History**

Afterburner finally exploded, "_why do we have to know this!_" and threw his datapad to the floor, stomping out of the room.

**#41: Power**

_Knowledge was power_, the humans said, and when Computron stood up with sand running from his fingers like rain, they could believe it.

**#42: Bother**

"_Yes_, Strafe, you_ are_ annoying me - now go away."

**#43: God**

They couldn't even be sure that they had souls; why should they bow their heads to some God they didn't even know would take them?

**#44: Wall**

Strafe beamed happily over the video feed, "well, there _was_ one, but then we siced Nosecone on it and there isn't anymore."

**#45: Naked**

The door to the Technobots' common room opened, Scattershot stepped through stripped of his paint and the good majority of his armor, and Strafe lost it.

**#46: Drive**

He pushed himself faster, _faster, faster_, and almost felt the stars.

**#47: Harm**

"Nu-uh,_ you_ look at _me_," Afterburner growled with his optics as bright as a smelting pool, "you so much as _look at him funny_ and I'll slagging kill you."

**#48: Precious**

Lightspeed placed a hand over his optic-band while Nosecone sighed – "Afterburner, that diamond is the only one of its kind; _please put it down_."

**#49: Hunger**

The energon cubes sat tauntingly beside him while Lightspeed forced himself to ignore them, placing his head in his shaking hands and hoping his medication would arrive soon.

**#50: Believe**

_We can do anything_.


End file.
